


Meraki

by archangelwithashotgun



Series: Tumblr Prompts [57]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Artist Sam, Fluff, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Meraki, One Word Prompts, Pre-Slash, Sabriel - Freeform, Sketches, Slash, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 09:20:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6950377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archangelwithashotgun/pseuds/archangelwithashotgun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meraki (Greek): the soul, creativity, or love put into something; the essence of yourself that is put into your work.</p>
<p>Sam had an art project that he'd been working on, and Gabriel is highly curious about what it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meraki

Sam had a project that he had been working on for weeks. Gabriel had no idea what it was; whenever he saw the sketchpad out, Sam would quickly flip it shut and duck it away whenever Gabriel came close enough.

The first time it happened, Gabriel shrugged it off. The second, third, tenth time it did… Gabriel was a curious being by nature, and Sam’s repetitive behavior was peaking his interest highly.

Gabriel didn’t want to take the sketchpad or read Sam’s mind or anything like that; he wanted Sam to willingly to show him what he had been working on. But whenever he asked about it, he got flushed cheeks and a stammered “just a project” as a reply.

So that’s all Gabriel really knew about it.

Gabriel didn’t mind giving Sam his privacy. After all, Sam was entitled to keep a few things to himself, especially hobbies as harmless as drawing. But it did sting a little that despite his efforts in regaining Sam’s trust, the hunter appeared to still hold certain reservations against him.

But Gabriel didn’t push him. He allowed Sam to work on whatever that project was in peace, opting to slip the occasional stare in the hunter’s direction from a distance whenever the sketchpad was out. He opted to just observe the way Sam’s forehead crinkled with concentration, the way his tongue lightly poked through a set of white teeth, the way his fingers gripped the pencil as he slid it masterfully across the paper…

Weeks later, the mystery behind the project was still buzzing around in Gabriel’s mind.

He was lounging in one of the armchairs in the library, leg crossed over the other, resting his temple on his fist, and watching Sam work diligently at the table.

He frowned as Sam suddenly slowed down, his eyes growing wide with every stroke of the pencil, and Gabriel quickly shifted his attention back to the book propped in his lap that he was pretending to read. He heard the smooth lead on paper, a soft breath, and a chair being shoved back.

Too curious to continue pretending, Gabriel looked up. Sam was standing up from his chair, facing Gabriel, and clutching the closed sketchbook in his hands. He pursed his lips together and cleared his throat, slowly stepping around the table and walking toward Gabriel. The archangel lowered his brows in light confusion, closing the book in his lap and dropping his fist from his temple as he tilted his head back to watch the man approach.

Despite the clear height advantage Sam had, made even more so apparent with Sam standing and Gabriel sitting, the hunter looked incredibly small as he shuffled sheepishly on his feet, fingers tightening and loosening around the sketchpad.

Gabriel raised a brow, waiting.

“You said… Well, you still wanna see what I’ve been working on, right?” Sam muttered, face pinching in light questioning worry.

Gabriel froze, his face going slack in shock. “You mean…”

Sam cleared his throat again, awkwardly holding out the sketchpad. “If you still want to.”

Gabriel paused, eyes flitting between Sam’s face and the offered black sketchpad. Slowly, he reached out, giving Sam plenty of time to pull away in case he changed his mind. Sam didn’t, and Gabriel’s fingers curled around the edge of the little book as he grabbed it.

Sam dropped his hand, lips pressed together in a tight, awkward smile. Gabriel glanced up from the sketchpad to look up at the human.

“Thanks, Sam,” he murmured.

Sam shrugged, rubbing the nape of his neck as he began to back away. “Just, uh, wait until I leave to open it, okay?” he requested, dropping his hand to his side, digging his hands firmly in his pockets. “I’ll be… I’ll be in my room.”

Gabriel watched Sam leave silently, still slightly shell-shocked. Once the man disappeared around the doorframe, Gabriel sighed, turning his gaze toward the sketchpad.

“Okay,” he breathed steadily, uncrossing his legs and sitting up straight. His heart was racing with anticipation. He’d finally get to see the reason behind Sam’s secretive behavior over the past few weeks. He’d finally get to uncover the project Sam had been working on this entire time.

Bracing himself, he opened the sketchpad to the first page…

And it was as if he were staring into a mirror.

Gabriel’s eyes widened and he gaped down at the page before him.

It was him. Sam had been drawing _him_.

Enthralled, bewildered, Gabriel quickly flipped through the pages, careful to keep his fingers at the very edge of each paper, unwilling to smudge any of Sam’s work with clumsy, shaking fingers.

They were all of him. Sam had drawn Gabriel into every single page.

Every image was like a snapshot taken of Gabriel’s life through the eyes of Sam.

_Gabriel was sitting at the kitchen table, chair leaning back, feet propped up, and Gabriel’s arms folded behind his head as the archangel quirked a brow at something ahead of him. Gabriel was twirling a lollipop stick in his mouth, brows furrowed in concentration. Gabriel was sitting on his bed, reading intensely from_ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire _as he munched merrily on some popcorn. Gabriel was leaning against the wall, arms cross over his chest, frowning. Gabriel was spinning his archangel blade like a baton, a daring smirk plastered on his face. Gabriel was smiling. Gabriel was laughing. Gabriel was scowling._

It was… Words could not begin to discern what was going on through the archangel’s mind as he scanned the pages of Sam’s sketchpad.

It was all _him_. Sam had drawn Gabriel, over and over again.

The amount of detail that went into each picture was astounding. The shading, the hard lines, the smooth strokes, the definitive shape of Gabriel’s exact form, the furrow of Gabriel’s brows, the quirk of Gabriel’s lips, the fluidity in Gabriel’s posture… It was nothing short of incredible.

But there was something else, something _big_ hidden within the confines of these pages that caused Gabriel’s heart to stutter and throb, electric warmth to pulse throughout his veins to reach even the most distal areas of his body, and hot and fat tears to well up in Gabriel’s eyes.

He could see Sam’s _soul_.

Tendrils of the divine light were enveloped in these pages, shining and burning purity and love, bring actual life to Gabriel on each page.

_You put your heart and soul into something…_

Gabriel leapt up, carefully closing the sketchpad as he raced out of the library, sprinting in the direction of Sam’s room.

At the end of the hallway lined with bedrooms, he could see Sam’s door was ajar. When he reached it, he slapped a palm against it in his frantic effort to open it, startling the man inside.

Sam flinched at the sudden noise that infiltrated his room and whirled around to face the entryway. The hunter’s eyes grew huge at the sight of the wide-eyed, panting archangel in his doorway, sketchpad locked in a white-knuckle grip in Gabriel’s hand. Sam opened his mouth to say something, and that was when Gabriel snapped.

The archangel had the courtesy to place the sketchpad safely on the desk by the door before marching forward, an incomprehensible glint in his eye. Sam faltered, hands raised, unable to determine the emotion behind the archangel’s advance.

“Gabe, I—“ Sam began, but Gabriel was already on him. His hands shot forward to bunch into Sam’s shirt, firmly pushing Sam backwards until the hunter’s back hit the wall with a jolting impact. Sam grunted and his mouth opened in light shock but before he could have time to recover, Gabriel leaned up and slammed their lips together in a rough kiss.

It was far from perfect; Gabriel’s frantic eagerness brought too much tongue, too much teeth, too much breathing, a bit less coordination than he would have preferred, and the tears in his eyes managed to spill down his cheeks.

But Sam was huffing and whimpering and clutching his shoulders, his enthusiastic response following his initial shock causing their lips to slide together more smoothly, tongues to glide more blissfully, his hands trailing up to tenderly cup Gabriel’s face and wipe the tears away.

And Gabriel found that he could not give a flying damn about perfect.


End file.
